AT&T to Stop Offering Two-Year Phone Contracts Starting January 8

Starting on January 8, 2016, AT&T plans to introduce a "pricing simplification effort" that will see the end of device subsidies and two-year contracts. According to an internal training document shared by Engadget, new and existing AT&T customers will only be able to purchase a smartphone at full price or with an AT&T Next payment plan going forward.


As outlined in the document, the new rules apply to all of the phones that AT&T sells, including smartphones and more basic devices, which will be paid for using new installment plans. More information on how AT&T will handle corporate accounts and non-smartphone devices like tablets and wearables will become available after an official announcement from AT&T, but it appears certain corporate users will be able to continue making two-year contract purchases.

The shift away from two-year contracts and iPhone subsidies began with T-Mobile in 2013, when the company introduced its Un-carrier payment plans uncoupling device costs from plan costs. Verizon followed suit in August of 2015, debuting new smartphone rate plans and eliminating its subsidized two-year contract option for new users.

Existing Verizon customers can still renew their two-year contracts, but AT&T's no-contract implementation is more extreme and will not offer existing customers the option to keep their contracts once they expire.


AT&T has already been working on shifting away from two-year contracts by pushing its Next plans. In June of 2015, AT&T forced Apple and other third-party retailers to remove the option to purchase AT&T phones with a two-year contract, leaving customers with AT&T Next or a full-priced smartphone as their only third-party purchase options.

Update: AT&T has confirmed its plans to stop offering two-year contracts in a statement given to Re/code.

"With $0 down for well-qualified customers, the ability to upgrade early and down-payment options available with even lower monthly installments, our customers are overwhelmingly choosing AT&T Next," AT&T told Re/code. "Starting January 8, AT&T Next will be the primary way to get a new smartphone at AT&T."

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This 3D-Printed Star Destroyer Is Two Feet Long

The Star Destroyer, one of the largest ships in the Star Wars universe, has been recreated in excruciating detail in the form of a two-foot long 3D-printed ship consisting of thousands of small parts. It was, as the creator suggested, a big job. You can check out a set of images here but, sadly, there aren’t plans just yet. Using a PowerSpec 3D Pro printer and three rolls of filament… Read More

Dolby Cinema: Twin laser projectors + object-based 3D audio = awesome

(credit: Iljitsch van Beijnum)

Earlier in the year, our own Sebastian Anthony had the opportunity to experience the new "IMAX with laser" cinema in Leicester Square, and it didn't disappoint. Not to be outdone, Dolby Laboratories invited Ars UK to the new JT cinema with Dolby Cinema in Hilversum, the broadcasting capital of the Netherlands.

Middle-aged Ars readers may remember Dolby from the Dolby B noise reduction system used with cassette tapes. Younger Ars readers are probably more familiar with Dolby through Dolby Digital, the codec used to encode most digital audio on DVDs as well as TV broadcasts and Blu-ray discs. (Dolby Digital started out as a way to add digital surround sound to film, where the digital information is encoded on the unused space between the perforations of the 35mm film, where it can be read optically.)

The latest Dolby audio technology in cinemas is Dolby Atmos, which supports a few more audio tracks than older systems—128 of them, in fact. However, Dolby Atmos improves upon previous surround sound technologies not by simply adding more channels. Instead, it allows sounds to be dynamically placed in a 3D space. This is used to great effect when noisy objects fly over the audience; it sounds very realistic. To allow for these effects, the JT cinema in Hilversum has no fewer than 60 speakers on the walls and the ceiling of its Dolby Cinema-equipped auditorium. Dolby Atmos is currently installed in several thousand cinemas worldwide and films such as Spectre and the new Star Wars are available with a Dolby Atmos mix (in compatible cinemas).

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Laptop Mag Deals: ThinkPad X1 Carbon Under $1,000

Time is growing short, 11th-hour shoppers – Santa will soon have to load up his sleigh. We're continuing to locate bargains for you up until the last desperate minutes, including more than $300 in s...

Caffeine-spiked peanut butter offers a bittersweet buzz

Enlarge (credit: Beth Mole)

Last month, New York Senator Charles Schumer brought to our attention the existence of caffeinated peanut butter, which immediately seemed like something we should try. Of course, that was probably not an outcome that Schumer was going for, since he brought it up only in hopes of getting the Food and Drug Administration to ban it. Nevertheless, as a peanut butter fan and a coffee enthusiast, I happily volunteered to eat some and report back.

(credit: STEEM)

To recap, the peppy peanut butter is made by a company called STEEM, based in Greenfield, Massachusetts, which sells 8-ounce jars online for $5.99 each plus $7.50 for shipping. Jars can also be acquired in select grocery stores in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York. But, as far as I can tell, it’s only offered in smooth variety. (Sorry, chunky fans)

The spread is jam-packed with caffeine, the company boasts, with every two-tablespoon serving offering 150 milligrams of caffeine. STEEM says that’s as much caffeine as two cups of coffee. But that entirely depends on how you make your coffee. According to health researchers, a typical 8-ounce cup of brewed coffee contains anywhere from 95 to 200 milligrams of caffeine. So, maybe STEEM employees make weak-ass coffee.

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Android on the desktop: Not really “good,” but better than you’d think

Enlarge / This would all work with Bluetooth, but wires are more fun.

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Android is the most popular mobile OS on the planet, and Google has brought the OS to cars, watches, and televisions. And, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Google will soon be bringing Android to yet another form factor: desktop and laptop computers. Re-architecting Android for a mouse and keyboard is going to require major changes to the smartphone operating system, but Android is actually much farther along that path today than most people realize.

We've Frankensteined together a little Android desktop setup using a Nexus 9 and a USB keyboard and mouse to see just how easy—or complicated—it was to use what is still formally a "mobile" operating system in a desktop context today, right now, without complicated changes or reconfigurations. It worked, but Android still has a ways to go before it can be called a real desktop operating system—quite a ways, in some cases.

The biggest affordance Android makes for a desktop OS is that it supports a keyboard and mouse. Any Android device can pair with a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, and if you want to go the wired route, just about any phone can plug in a mouse and keyboard via a USB OTG cable and a USB hub. Some OEMs even build Android devices with a keyboard and mouse, like the Asus Transformer series, which is a convertible laptop that runs Android.

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Apple Is Reportedly Developing Its Own, Energy-Efficient Screens For iPhone And iPad

Apple is reported to be working on its own display technology in a move that could lessen its dependence on third-party suppliers like Samsung and Sharp, and boost the battery life of its products. Read More

Is GoPro doomed? Stock has been a huge dog

Read full story for latest details.

How to access changelog for Apple TV app updates

Whilst browsing the App Store in desktop iTunes or via your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, you now get a notation for iOS apps that are also available on the fourth-generation Apple TV, but that’s about it.

The iOS App Store, for example, doesn’t permit you to view screenshots of Apple TV apps nor does it provide version history or changelogs.

If you’re like me, you want to learn about any changes as your favorite Apple TV apps get updated so you don’t miss out on cool new features.

In this quick tutorial, you’ll learn how to browse recently updated apps on the Apple TV 4 and access official changelogs from developers which typically provide a treasure trove of information detailing new features, refinements, fixes and other items of interest.... Read the rest of this post here

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"How to access changelog for Apple TV app updates" is an article by iDownloadBlog.com.
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Plan to fix Yahoo: Fire 9,000 & Marissa Mayer too

Yahoo: An activist shareholder is calling for Yahoo to radically change its strategy, fire CEO Marissa Mayer and even revert to its old logo.

TextFaces review: add Unicode faces to your keyboard

In early November, we told you about a fun little jailbreak tweak that makes it possible for you to add Unicode faces to your keyboard so you don’t have to be like everyone else with those silly yellow smiley faces.

The tweak’s developer, Neo Ighodaro told us that, thanks to our coverage of Unicode Faces, he figured that it would be a good idea to turn it into an official App Store app rebranded as TextFaces. We took it for a test spin on a non-jailbroken device and have a review of TextFaces for you today.... Read the rest of this post here

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"TextFaces review: add Unicode faces to your keyboard" is an article by iDownloadBlog.com.
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Plot Thickens In Dell-EMC Deal As VMware Announces It’s Walking Away From Virtustream Deal With EMC

Ah, nothing goes easy with that $67 billion Dell-EMC deal, does it? Today the plot thickened a bit more when VMware announced in a filing with the SEC that it was walking away from the agreement with EMC to form Virtustream as a jointly owned company. Re/code first reported this news. This whole deal has from the start been a fairly complex tale, and like the movie Groundhog Day, one we… Read More